Outsourcing of Turing Scheme to Capita branded ‘shameful’ by critics
Fiona Simpson
Friday, December 10, 2021
Education unions and MPs have criticised a government decision to outsource a £6.27m contract to run the Turing Scheme - which replaced Erasmus+ - to private firm Capita.
Capita will replace previous contract holder The British Council which helped launch the scheme in February.
The Turing Scheme was introduced by the Department for Education as a replacement for Erasmus+, which was also overseen by the British Council, after Britain left the European Union on 31 January 2020.
According to the British Council, the Turing Scheme has so far supported 41,024 participants, of which 48 per cent are identified as coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Capita will take over the scheme in March next year, with support from education partners including the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU).
Costi Karayannis, managing director and client partner for education and learning at Capita, said: “We are delighted to have won this contract to administer grants for the Turing Scheme. We look forward to working with the Department for Education to enable students from all backgrounds to access global work and education opportunities.
“Capita will combine our capabilities in digital grants management, education and complex programme management to deliver life changing educational opportunities for young people participating in the Turing Scheme.”
However, critics have warned that the decision will “further diminish the quality of student exchange programmes”.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the Universities and Colleges Union, branded the move “a terrible decision from the Department for Education”.
“The British Council has important expertise in the running of student exchanges, and cutting them out of the process in favour of a profit-making private company is shameful. The Turing scheme is still finding its feet, and the priority must be delivering quality for students, not a race to the bottom. This continued, ideological outsourcing drive from the Tories is bad for students and bad for ordinary people,” she said.
Matt Western, shadow universities minister, added: “The Conservatives’ plan to farm out the Turing scheme to the private firm Capita risks selling students short. Ministers must now guard against providers profiting off students’ aspirations.”
Wendy Chamberlain, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, told the House of Commons: “The EU's Erasmus Scheme was fantastic for UK students. The UK government has contracted out the replacement Turing Scheme, without providing details to MPs.
“That will impact on the British Council's future. We need a statement from the minister so the government can be held to account.”
Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg said he would ask Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to provide a statement to MPs before the Christmas recess.
A DfE spokesperson said that Capita has won the contract to deliver the Turing Scheme until December 2023 following a “rigorous tender evaluation process”.
“The government has committed to funding the programme for a further three years, including with £110m for the next academic year,” the spokesperson added.
The British Council said it was “proud to have launched the Turing Scheme”.